Alex Limon says he came to a Michele Bachmann rally here for one reason: To ask the Republican presidential candidate what she intends to do about school bullying in her district that reportedly targets gays.

He got to ask his question, but he didn’t get a lengthy answer.

“That’s not a federal issue,” Bachmann said, before moving on to the shake the hand of the next person waiting to speak to her.

Tammy Aaberg, mother of the Justin Aaberg who hanged himself after the Anoka-Hennepin, Minnesota school district failed to intervene against persistent anti-gay bullying, met for an hour Thursday with Bachmann’s congressional staffer to talk about problems with anti-gay bullying in Bachmann’s district. The staffer promised to take Aaberg’s concerns to the congresswoman, and Aaberg expressed hope that Bachmann would “come up with a positive response for the country.” I think we now have an answer for her.

When I see Bachmann avoiding the issue by claiming that bullying in schools is not a federal issue, my instinctive reaction is to view the excuse she uses as somewhat irrelevant: any good political representative should take an active interest in problems within his/her constituency.

Admittedly this may just be due to my British perspective – in the UK, we judge our MPs based not only on how effectively they represent us in Parliament, but also on how active they are in relation to local issues outside their remit as a national-level politician.

Nevertheless, for a national-level political representative to be so dismissive of a social problem of this magnitude within their district – one so serious that people are dying – should raise alarm bells irrespective of your political persuasion. For that person to be running for the presidency makes it even more disturbing.

John, it may not be but that’s a damn cheap excuse to avoid adressing the topic. She’s acting like a twelve year old, she knows her true beliefs will make her look bad so she desperately clings to a technicality to pretend she doesn’t have a moral obligation to respond.

Priya: Agreed. As I said, I do not care for the woman and her attitude about gays is certainly part of the reason why.

Lucrece: So are murder, rape and theft yet in most cases those are state issues and not Federal. Well, unless they take place on Federal property of course. Public schools are run by the states and it is at that level that matters such as bullying should be addressed, not the Feds.

Anti-LGBT bullying is a federal issue if federal officials choose to make it one.

Bachmann claims it isn’t a federal issue partially so she can wrap it in states’ rights rhetoric, but mostly because she’s a hardcore fundamentalist who probably believes that anti-LGBT bullying should flourish because it “discourages homosexuality”.

The Department of Education has its hands in all kinds of things. Anti-LGBT bullying is something it may have a responsibility to address. And indeed, I think it’s done so under Obama, through Kevin Jennings’ office when he was there.

Legally, I don’t see why Congress couldn’t pass and the president sign a law requiring schools to address anti-LGBT bullying.

I don’t think she’s stupid, but she may be as weird and crazy as some people say. It may be that she just doesn’t think on her feet very well. She already has a reputation for making more off the cuff erroneous statements than other politicians. This one wasn’t a random mental vagarie, though, it clearly has an ideological motivation.

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As to responsibility to help one’s constituents, isn’t that referred to as constituent services? There’s nothing wrong with a congressperson intervening appropriately in a state or local matter to help constituents.

But the constituents she is helping here are the bullies, and bigoted parents and school officials.

This is so depressingly typical of what passes for political discourse these days. The conservatives, of course, take the initiative, and spew out some surprising, new false claim about reality. And everyone else reflexively spends time and effort debunking it. The mainstream media treat it seriously, as though there really is some real question or debate.

In a way, though, I’d like to see this debated. I’m sure there are some conservatives that will try to push this as an issue. But it might not be a winning issue for them.

In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.

When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.

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From the Inside: Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out”

On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.

Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!

Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.

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